Mead's season ends on a high

Title clinched and farewell to most successful ever chairman

Amateur Football Combination - Old Meadonians 3 Parkfield 0

This was a game that Old Meadonians only needed to draw to take the Amateur Football Combination premier division title for season 2004-2005 but Meads were in no mood to take chances.

The atmosphere in the dressing room before the kick-off was feverish and managers Paul Rumley and Rory Vermeulen had the difficult and unusual task of calming things down with their pre-match talk especially as the team presented them with monogrammed quilted tops. This task proved almost impossible as, despite having the best of first half exchanges, Meads were over anxious and impatient and snatched at chances on offer. Consequently their usually clinical finishing suffered.

A half-time dressing down sufficed and fifteen minutes on striker Ed Glover cut in from the left to score off the post from the edge of the area to relieve the tension. Two minutes later Jack Costello’s short corner found Colin Hawkins whose driven cross went like a bullet into the net from Ian Williamson’s diving header.

With fifteen minutes to go Kevin Quinn capped a tremendous performance by springing the offside trap and racing through from the halfway line to round the keeper for the third.

Team: Sayers, Jordan, (Salanson), Hanley, (Wapshott), Williamson, Rhone, Costello, Bond, Quinn, (Kearney), Glover, Hawkins.

Retiring chairman David Tyler presided over a jubilant presentation supper at Meads’ Chiswick clubhouse in the evening, celebrating a five year stewardship in which he has overseen the most successful period in the club’s seventy-five year history:

The first team had that very afternoon clinched a record breaking fifth league championship, two in the premier division of the Old Boys’ League and three in the league’s successor the Amateur Football Combination. During that period Meads’ firsts also won the prestigious Amateur Football Alliance Senior Cup in 2002, 2004 and 2005 and the A.F.A. Middlesex Senior Cup and London Old Boys’ Senior Cup in 2003.

David Tyler was quick to praise the first team and in particular the joint coach/mangers Paul Rumley and Rory Vermeulen who have been in charge for three years and this season had excelled themselves in end of season fixture congestion which had inevitably lead to an escalating injury list. They had picked the team up after an unscheduled defeat in the Middlesex and Essex cup final led to two instant league defeats and clawed back a seventeen point deficit to overtake the season’s pace-setters U.C.L., a true ‘bench mark’ team of the A.F.A.

Some twenty-five individual awards were made but in deference to the first team’s performance the accolade went to Rory Vermeulen who was named ‘Clubman of the Year’. David Tyler went on to say that the first team had set a standard which was now being followed by the rest of the club. The eighth team had won the Nemean Cup and got promotion, the sixth team were beaten finalists in their cup and were league champions and the fifths, the youth development team, had been promoted. They had also provided the winner of the ‘Golden Boot’, eighteen year old Albert Adomah, with thirty seven goals. Albert has already played twice as sub for the first team. The under eighteen team had been beaten in the semi-final of their A.F.A. cup.

A special and most deserved award went to second team manager Stuart Minors who had taken over the previous season’s double winning team and found himself with just one player left. After a disastrous start of six straight defeats saw them firmly embedded on the bottom of the table, Stuart’s remould from within the club won nine of their remaining twelve games to perform a passable imitation of the ‘Great Escape’ and end up sixth.

The whole ceremony was accompanied by large screen photos and videos of the season’s events including Jon Best’s hilarious video of the club’s ‘Pink Night’ during the successful tour to Cancun, Mexico. Finally, before the home grown entertainment started David Tyler was presented with a silver tray engraved, ‘The most successful Chairman in the Club’s history. Thanks- OMFC’

If you feel you would like to be a member of this progressive and friendly club visit their web site www.omfc.co.uk

David Stanners

October 2, 2007